Interesting footnotes - short careers, weird names, etc

[Writehooks]

Graney was also a Canadian, and after retiring from playing he became a play-by-play broadcaster for the team, thus being the first former major league player to become a broadcaster in the U.S.

He died at age 91 in Louisiana, Missouri. In the 1980s, the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame instituted the Jack Graney Award, presented periodically to journalists deemed to have made notable contributions to promoting baseball in Canada.

[Browncow75]

Appears in T206 and T205 sets:

Kling skipped the 1909 season to pursue a full-time career as a pool hustler, after winning the World Pocket Billiards Championship in the winter of 1908-09 As a huge baseball fan and avid pool player I thought this was a cool bit of info.

Brandon

[FrankWakefield]

Jerry Upp would be such a guy....



http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...e/UppE90-1.jpg

Pitched for the Lancaster Lanks in 1906, with a 19-15 record.
In 1907 he pitched for the Columbus Senators of the American Association, he
was 27-10.
In 1909, back at Columbus, he was 5-9. He then went up to Cleveland for the end of the 1909 season.
With the Cleveland Naps, he threw in his first game Sept 2nd, and last game Sept 27th.
He appeared in 7 games, started 4, finished 3, had a 2-1 record and a 1.69 ERA.
In 1910 he had a record of 11-10 in the TriState Leauge, pitching for Williamsport
and Altoona.
And that was the end for Mr. Upp's professional baseball career.

[FrankWakefield]

And I think this card might be this guy's only card showing him as a major leaguer....



I will leave it to a Yankee fan to explain who he is and what the card show's him doing.


I can still see the newsreel image of some old guy kicking dirt after this catch...

[nolemmings]

1947--Gionfriddo robs the Yankee Clipper in Game 6. Boo.

Here's an old video--note a little earlier Yogi Berra wearing #35.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqDcNRp9gwc

[abroome]

Not pre-war, they are from that dang'ed 'ole "new vintage" era, but I think 2 pretty cool examples...



Jack "Lucky" Lohrke, who just passed away last month, was known for being, well...lucky.
Coming home from WWII, Lucky was bumped from a transport plane last minute to make room for a VIP. Plane went down, killing all on board.
Lohrke also escaped a terrible bus crash that killed 9 of his minor league teammates. When the bus stopped to get dinner, there was a phone message that Lucky should leave the bus and head home right away, he had been traded. A few hours later the bus went off the mountain road in the rain.



"White Lighting" Steve Dalkowski was called the fastet pitcher ever. He never had control, both of his pitches or his life.
'Nuke' LaLoosh from the movie "Bull Durham," was based on Steve.
He actually threw a ball through an outfield wall on a dare.
Plywood cutouts were placed on each side of the plate so Steve could try to learn some control. He took the wood heads right off the cutouts.
The tragic ending to the story is Steve was a fan of the grape. It caused him to suffer from alcohol dementia. Supposedly he cannot remember anything past 1964.
Both of these guy's stories can be found through Google. This post is the "nutshell" versions.

Andy

[Potomac Yank]

Originally Posted by FrankWakefield

And I think this card might be this guy's only card showing him as a major leaguer....



I will leave it to a Yankee fan to explain who he is and what the card show's him doing.


I can still see the newsreel image of some old guy kicking dirt after this catch...

*

Frank, is that Gionfriddo? (sp)

[asoriano]

Originally Posted by FrankWakefield

And I think this card might be this guy's only card showing him as a major leaguer....



I will leave it to a Yankee fan to explain who he is and what the card show's him doing.


I can still see the newsreel image of some old guy kicking dirt after this catch...

Al Gionfriddo robbing DiMaggio's home run in the '47 World Series.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

4. famous for something notable that has nothing, necessarily, to do with Baseball.

The other questions all have straightforward answers (some of which have already been discussed in the past). I haven't seen this category come up, though, so here are a few to get us going:

1. Cy Malis became a bit actor in Hollywood. After that, he founded Narcotics Anonymous.

2. Jophery Brown became a Hollywood stuntman

3. Both Ethan Allen and Duster Mails invented baseball-related games

4. Jim Bouton invented Big League Chew

5. Sid Farrar and Ed Wineapple both became Broadway promotors

6. Joe Cascarella raced thoroughbred horses

7. Johnny Logan helped build the Alaska Pipeline

8. Ralph Schwamb killed a man in a botched robbery scheme, going on to become the most successful prison ballplayer of all time

9. Art Shires and Mike Kelly (of the 1926 Phillies) are also rumored to have committed murder

10. Harry Mink O'Neill died at the battle of Iwo Jima

11. Bob Neighbors disappeared in Korea during a failed bombing mission

12. Herman Hill was eaten by a shark (not confirmed)

13. Billy Sunday is pretty obvious, as are Bill Sharman, George Halas, Jim Thorpe, Ace Parker, Greasy Neale, etc.

14. Byron McLaughlin is avoiding extradition in France after making millions in a counterfeit shoe ring

This list never ends. These stories are even more fascinating than the game itself!

[FrankWakefield]

For J.B.'s #13 up there....

I got this years ago... he was a pretty good ballplayer.

And yes, Joe, that is Al Gionfriddo hauling in a 415' fly ball.

[frohme]

Though he didn't see any real action, "Mr Lewis" was with the Braves in 1912 ... 4 spring training ABs and 1 exhibition win. SABR has a good read on what little is known about him.